Bernie Worrell’s Elevation (The Upper Air) is not a shocker, the mix of jazz classics and self-penned compositions, plus Parliament nod and Bob Marley cover, follows on the heels of 2011’s Standards which has a similar tone to it. During an interview with Tomas Doncker for rock nyc, Elevation producer Bill Laswell referred to the album as “Black Ambient”. If so, so are parts of the full band Standards and if so ambient does not mean what it meant when Brian Eno composed Music For Airports.
Ambient suggests deep background music, even subliminal sounds, but that isn’t what Worrell achieves here. On both Carlos Santana’s “Samba Pa Ti” and Bob Marley’s “Redemption Song” he is playing the melody to the exclusion of all else, this is neither tone nor flow, nor even quite a question of arrangement, but a question of notes following each other in perfect harmonic concord: it isn’t really background music because it is so sweetly tempting your ears perk up every time you hear it.
Something else. Laswell seems to be putting so much echo on the bass notes, listen to the close of Bernie’s own composition “Realm Of Sight”, the bass note is still vibrating after the song is over, the sound moves from the bottom to the top of the mix. Laswell understands from bass of course and at times I could have sworn he was recording all the black notes on a different track: the effect is like a tunnel heard from miles away, Bernie’s nimble blue notes play all along the top and below it there is this sort of sleeping giant on some songs. It is hard to overpraise Bill’s work on this album, it is almost like the two men are of one mind: the ideas flow endlessly between them and I am hard pressed of a more sympathetic production of solo piano. You can hear every single note, everything, so clearly. It is a wonderful production job and it should be studied. I have no idea how Laswell did it, it sounds like he is overdubbing different parts on maybe four tracks.
So while I appreciate that the heart of the album are quietly (the first composition is “In A Silent Way”) meditative rearrangements of deep songs, versions so dark they shine bright, it seems like it is more than a deconstruction of major compositions.
The giveaway is “I’d Rather Be With You” –a funky Bootsy Collins ballad which is all about the bass (no shocker there, right) , it seems to shake its way through to the chorus and Bootsy’s take is all hardcore P-Funk characterization. It’s a great groove, but is it a great song? Yes, it is. And Worrell seems to be contemplating, it seems to be levitating (elevating) it out of the funk pantheon and finding the heart in the middle of it. Watching Worrell at BB King’s earlier in the year, his delicateness of touch didn’t come through, he was a thundering performer (made me think of Elton John’s punding only with a light and faster touch) but on “I’d Rather Be with You” we are reminded of the P-Funk keyboardist roots in classical music. This sets the tone for the rearranged r&b tracks by the likes of the Dramatics and the Five Stairsteps.
Let’s go back to two words here, “Elevation” and “Black”. Laswell’s insistent that black culture is central to Worrell’s achievements and Worrell’s insistence that these compositions belong in a pantheon most like fitted for white Europeans in the 19the century. The duo are looking at great black music, composers like the incomparable John Coltrane, and while Laswell claims it goes back as far as “in A Silent Way”, well, “Alabama” was written in 1963. But also great black r&b, pop music, and Bernie’s originals and placing them in a framework to force us to elevate our understanding of their achievements.
Worrell’s musicianship here goes back to the very beginning of his career and of piano compositions as a whole. The tone and pace of the playing is open, contemplative, moody (and not necessarily in a good way), every note comes with its own footnote: you listen to it and you hear not just the echoes of the originals but the echoes of Worrell’s musical scholarship, of his original inspirations.
At 69 years of age, Worrell is enormously nimble. His touch on “Wings” is ridiculously light for a man with so much space between his notes: when he is playing off the black keys he almost seems to play them anyway. The composition is slow but crafty, he has lots of moments you don’t see coming, lots of moments where you don’t know how he got from “A” to “B”… it is a reflexive genius, a definition of genius where you can’t figure out how or why the leap occurred but it occurred any way and couldn’t have happened any other way.
Laswell called it Black Ambient, but I’m not sure it is black, not even sure it is American: the flavor is worldwide, it is a unifying because it has its roots in classical and also because instrumentals work in a way lyric song doesn’t; while it is harder to hear, it is easier to emphasize with: the meaning is very literally in the sound and whatever your language barrier you are on an equal footing. It is open to everyone.
By the time you reach “Redemption Song”, it doesn’t feel black or ambient or anything else; it is a gloriously beautiful piece of music that elevates us as high as we can possibly go and is so inclusive the only reason not to embrace it is misanthropy.
Why only Tomas Doncker is heralding this album is beyond me. A magnificent piece of music that should be heard and heard again.
Grade: A
